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No. 20. 



E 467 

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.n38 
F17 
Copy 1 



FAIRMOUNT PARK 



ART ASSOCIATION. 



UNVEILING OF THE 
EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF 

Major-General George Gordon Meade, 

Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, 
Tuesday, October iStJi, iSSy. 



No. 20. 



FAIRMOUNT PARK 

r V 

ART ASSOCIATION, 



UNVEILING OF THE 

EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF 

Major-General George Gordon Meade, 

Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, 
Tiiesdajf, October i8th, iSSy. 



61504 
0$ 



Printed by 

ALLEN, LANE & SCOTT, 

PHILADELPHIA. 



i 



/ 










FAIRMOUNT PARK 



ART ASSOCIATION. 



PRESIDENT, 
A. I. DpEXEL. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS, 

Joel J. Baily, Alexander Brown, George B. Roberts. 

treasurer, 
Thomas Hockley. 

secretary, 
Charles H. Howell, 1523 Walnut Street. 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 

A. J. Drexel, Chairman. 



Joel J. Baily, 
Alexander Brown, 
Charles M. Burns, Jr., 
J. Raymond Claghorn, 
Charles J. Cohen, 
John Bellangee Cox, 
Thomas Dolan, 



Henry K. Fox, 
Lincoln Godfrey, 
Charles J. Harrah, 
A. G. Hetherington, 
Thomas Hockley, 
Charles H. Howell, 
Leslie W. Miller, 



Joseph Moore, Jr., 
John T. Morris, 
Henry Pettit, 
George B. Roberts, 
John Sartain, 
Frederick R. Shelton, 
E. Burgess Warren. 



COMMITTEE OF INVITATION. 

A. J. Drexel, President. Col. John P. Nicholson, Chairman. 
Hon. Edwin H. Fitler. 



Joel J. Baily. 
Col. Alexander Biddle, 
Gen. H. H. Bingham, 
Alexander Brown, 
Col. C. E. Cadwalader, 
Alexander J. Cassatt, 
George W. Childs, 



Col. Francis J. Crilly, Rev. W. N. McVickar, 
Gen. E. Burd Grubb, Dr. William Pepper, 
Hon. J. I. Clark Hare, George B. Roberts, 
Gen. John F. Hartranft, Most Rev. P. J. Ryan, 
Gen. John Markoe, Henry Winsor, 

Rev. S- D. McConnell, Gen. LanghorneWister. 



W. C. Allison, 
B. H. Bartol, _ 
Beauveau Borie, 
Conyers Button, 
Stephen A. Caldwell, 
John H. Cathervvood, 
Edward H. Coates, 
Thomas Cochran, 



FINANCE COMMITTEE. 

Capt. W. W. Frazier, Jr., Chairman. 

C. Howard Colket, B. K. Jamison 
B. B. Comegys, 
John H. Converse, 

D. B. Cummins, 
Ferdinand J. Dreer 
A. J. Drexel, 



John H. Michener, 
"M. Richards Muckl^, 
Joseph Patterson, 
George Philler, 
J. C. Strawbridge, 
Col. Samuel Goodman, John Wanamaker, 
H. H. Houston, John Lowber Welsh. 



OFFICERS OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE GRAND ARMY OF THE 
REPUBLIC ON MEADE MEMORIAL. 

Col. Maurice E. Fagan, Post No. 2, Chairma?i. 

CoL. Robert B. Beath, Post No. 5, Secretary. 

Capt. John Taylor, Post No. 51, Treasurer. 



COMMITTEE ON ARRANGEMENTS. 

Col. Robert B. Beath, Chairman. 
Col. R. Dale Benson, John S. Jenks, Capt. J. G. Rosengarten, 

Col. Charles H. Banes, Col. Francis S. Keese, Gen. Geo. R. Snowden, 
Col. Charles M. Betts, Maj. Wm. H. Lambert, Hon. Thos. J. Stewart, 
Col. James C. Biddle, Gen. James W. Latta, Capt. John Taylor, 
Hugh Craig, Jr., Col. Clayton McMichael Lieut. A. M. Thackara, 

Col. Maurice E. Fagan, Col. Fred. C. Newhall, Rev. H. Clay Trumbull, 
B. Frishmuth, Col. Wm. Brooke Rawle John A. Wiedersheim, 

Capt. John P. Green, Thos. Robins, Jr., Lieut. J.LapsleyWilson. 



RECEPTION COMMITTEE. 

Col. Theo. E. Wiedersheim, Chairman. 



Col. Robert Adams, Jr., 
Wescott Bailey, 
Hon. Craig Biddle, 
Capt. James S. Biddle, 
Maj. John Bigelow, 
John C. Bullitt, 
Geo. Burnham, 
Maj. J. E. Carpenter, 
Henry T. Coates, 
Lemuel Coffin, 
T. DeWitt Cuyler, 
Robt. S. Davis, 
Daniel Dougherty, 
John R. Fell, 
Col. D. W. Flagler, 
Henry J. Flanders, 
Col. James Forney, 
Alexander M. Fox, 
Hon. Daniel M. Fox, 
Henry C. Gibson, 



Col. H. E. Goodman, 
Col. Chas. S. Greene, 
Wm. W. Harding, 
Chas. F. Haseltine, 
Gen. C. P. Herring. 
William C. Houston, 
Hon. Henry M. Hoyt, 
G. Fred'k Jordan, 
Capt. P. D. Keyser, 
Henry C. Lea, 
Craig Lippincott, 
Col. Alex. K. McClure, 
George D. McCreary, 
Thoinas McKean, 
William V. McKean, 
Thomas MacKellar, 
Richard C. McMurtrie, 
Gen. Lewis Merrill, 
Caleb J. Milne, 
Hon. James T. Mitchell 



Col. Geo. H. North, 
Henry Corbit Ogden, 
C. Stuart Patterson, 
Gen. Robt. E. Patterson, 
Gibson Peacock, 
Major Henry C. Potter, 
Francis T. Reeves, 
Dr. W. S. W. Ruschen- 

berger, U. S. N., 
Dr. Edward Shippen, 

U. S. N., 
William M. Singerly, 
Com. Jos. S. Skerrett, 
Charles Emory Smith, 
Col. S. H. Starr, 
Col. John H. Taggart, 
Hon. Richard Vaux, 
Charles E. Warburton, 
Capt. John H. Weeks, 
Gen. Isaac J. Wistar. 



MEMBERS AND OFFICERS OF THE WOMEN'S A UXILIAR Y COMMITTEE, 
MEADE MEMORIAL. 



Mrs. J. Bellangee Cox, President. 

Mrs. J. DuNDAs Lippincott, First Vice-President. 
Mrs. Thos. Hockley, Second Vice-President. 

Miss Fanny Magee, Third Vice-President. 

Miss Louise E. Claghor'n, Secretary a?id Treasurer. 



Mrs. R. L. Ashhurst, 
Mrs. W. N. Ashman, 
Mrs. Charles B. Baeder, 
Mrs. Joel J. Baily, 
Mrs. Clarences. Bement 
Mrs. Samuel Bell, 
Mrs. Alexander Biddle, 
Mrs. James C. Biddle, 
Mrs. David B. Birney, 
Mrs. Beaveau Borie, 
Mrs. O. C. Bosbyshell, 
Mrs. David Branson, 
Mrs. John Penn Brock, 
Mrs. Alexander Brown, 
Mrs. H. Armitt Brown, 
Mrs. S. B. Brown, 
Mrs. E. R. Buckman, 
Mrs. George Bullock, 
Miss Cadwalader, 
Mrs. George C. Carson, 
Mrs. Charles Carver, 
Mrs. J. H. Catherwood, 
Mrs. Samuel Chew, 
Mrs. George W. Childs, 
Mrs. J. R. Claghorn, 
Mrs. Clarence H. Clark, 
Mrs. Henry Cohen, 
Mrs, William Conn, 
Mrs. Thomas K. Conrad 
Mrs. J. W. Coulston, 
Miss Sarah S. Cox, 
Mrs. Theodore Cuyler, 
Mrs. E. M. Davis, Jr., 
Mrs. F. A. Dick, 
Mrs. Thomas Dolan, 
Mrs. F. J. Dreer, 
Mrs. Anthony J. Drexel, 



Mrs. Rodman B. Ellison 
Mrs. James C. Fisher, 
Mrs. John W. Forney, 
Mrs. tlenry K. Fox, 
Mrs. Nalbro Frazier, jr., 
Mrs. F. H. Getchell,' 
Mrs. Henry C. Gibson, 
Miss Elizabeth Gratz, 
Mrs. F. W. Grayson, 
Mrs. Charles Greene, 
Mrs. F. J. H. Haley, 
Mrs. J. L. Hallo well, 
Mrs. James G. Hardie, 
Mrs. Chas. H. Hart, 
Mrs. Harry C. Hart, 
Mrs. J. Campbell Harris 
Mrs. John Harrison, 
Mrs. Joseph Harrison Jr. 
Mrs. Alfred C. Harrison 
Mrs. John F. Hartranft, 
Mrs. C. W. Hazzard, 
Mrs. G. Craig Heberton 
Mrs. Morton P. Henry, 
Mrs. Charles P. Herring 
Mrs. Charles H. Howell 
Mrs. W. Howell, Jr., 
Mrs. E. E. Hutter, 
Mrs. Charles K. Ide, 
Mrs. Manning Kennard, 
Miss E. W. key, 
Mrs. T. Morris Knight, 
Mrs. George L. Knowles 
Mrs. James W. Latta, 
Mrs. Henry C. Lea, 
Mrs. C. F. Lennig, 
Mrs. Saunders Lewis, 
Mrs. William Lippincott 



Mrs. Joshua Lippincott, 
Mrs. Amos R. Little, 
Mrs. L. H. Lvnde, 
Mrs. Clayton McMichael 
Mrs. Walter McMichael 
Miss Laura T. Merrick, 
Mrs. Caleb J. Milne, 
Mrs. E. Coppee Mitchell 
Miss Miriam Mordecai, 
Mrs. S. R. Morgan, 
Mrs. H. Munnikhuysen, 
Mrs. Seymour B. NefF, 
Mrs. Louis C. Norris, 
Mrs. A. Wilson Norris, 
Mrs. Jos. S. Patterson, 
Miss Mary Paul, 
Mrs. C. J. Peterson, 
Mrs. George Philler, 
Mrs. Harry C. Potter, 
Mrs. David Reeves, 
Mrs. Robert E. Rogers, 
Miss Rosengarten, 
Miss E. C. Roberts, 
Mrs. Thomas A. Scott, 
Mrs. Matthew Simpson, 
Mrs. Aubrey H. Smtth, 
Mrs. A. L. Snowden, 
Mrs. Charles L Stills 
Mrs. Seth B. Stitt, 
Mrs. Thomas R. Tunis, 
Mrs. M. T. Vandever, 
Mrs. Joseph R. C. Ward 
Mrs. John G.Watmough 
Mrs. Charles Wheeler, 
Mrs. Richard P. White, 
Miss Ellen Wood, 
Mrs. R. K. Wright. 



ORDER OF EXERCISES 

Af the Memorial Sej'vices Unveiling the Equestrian Statue of Major- 
General Geo?'ge Gordon Meade, Fairmotnit Park, Philadelfhia, 
Tuesday, October i8th, i88j, at 3 P. M. 

His Honor Edwin H. Fitler, 
Mayor of the City of Philadelphia, presiding. 
Music, First Regiment Band. 

Invocation and Prayer. 

The Rt. Rev. Cortlandt Whitehead, D. D., Bishop of Pittsburgh. 

America — Chorus. 

Led by Col O. C. Bosbyshell. 

My country, 'tis of thee. Our Father's God, to thee, 

Sweet land of liberty. Author of libert}', 

Of thee I sing. To thee I sing. 

Land where my fathers died. Long may our land be bright 

Land of the pilgrim's pride, With freedom's holy light ; 

From every mountain side Protect us by thy might ; 
Let freedom ring. Great God, our King. 

Openinc; Remarks 

Hon. Edwin H. Fitler. - 

PRESENTATION OF THE STATUE 

To the Commissioners of Fairmount Park by 

Hon. Benjamin Harris Brewster, 

of the Fairmount Park Art Association, and the Unveiling of the Statue by 

Master George Gordon Meade 

and 

Master George Gordon Meade Large, 

Grandsons of General Meade. 

Music. 

RECEPTION OF THE STATUE 
By Hon. George H. Boker, President of the Commissioners of 
Fairmount Park. 
Music. 

Oration. 

Major-General John Gibbon, U. S. Army. 

DoxoLOGY — "Old Hundred." 

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow ; 
Praise Him, all creatures here below ; 
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host ; 
Praise Father, Son,. and Holy Ghost. 



MILITARY. 

Marshal — Colonel James C. Biddle. 

Standard bearers supporting three historic flags : — 
Headquarters Army of Potomac, Headquarters Fifth Corps, 
Headquarters Pennsylvania Reserves. 

Chief of staff— Gen. B. F. Fisher. Aids— Gen. H. J. Hunt, 
Gen. F. J. Locke, Gen. A. S. Webb, Gen. J. C. Duane, Gen. P. A. 
Oliver, Gen. R. C. Drum, Gen. J.Wilson, Col. Charles E. Cad- 
walader, Col. A. J. Mason, Col. Emlen N. Carpenter, Col. W. H. 
Paine, Col. J. R. Dickinson, Col. F. Wister, Col. J. P. Brinton, 
Col. J. R. Coxe, Col. D. W. Flagler, Col. E. R. Warner, Col. 
H. C. Hodges, Col. A. P. Martin, Col. A. C. Wildrick, Col. 
Francis J. Crilly, Col. James C. Lynch, Col. W. Jay, John A. 
Wiedersheim, Major W. E. Barrows, Major H. J. Farnsworth, Major 
J. W. Williams, Captain John Taylor, Captain C. McKibben, and 
Captain A. B. Coxe. 

First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry. 

General E. Burd Grubb commanding. 

First Division. 

Marshal — Major Joseph R. T. Coates, Survivors of the Pennsyl- 
vania Reserves, Alexis Band, survivors One Hundred and Fourteenth 
Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. 

Total— 80. 

Second Division. 

' Marshal — Samuel Harper, Department Commander Grand Army 
of the Republic of Pennsylvania. Assistant Marshals — D. Mc- 
Gowan, D. T. Davies, H. I. Yohn, J. A. Messimer. Aids — B. 
Jenkinson, C. H. Timney, A. Levering, W. Rennyson, T. C. 
Aldred, H. Johnson, S. B. W. Gordon, W. Horrocks, R. J. Nettle, 
D. S. McClue, J. D. Hoffner, J. A. Junior, J. Undercoffer, J. K. 
Mansur. Jenning's Sixth Regiment Band, Post No. i ; Evening 
Call Band, Post 2 ; Post band. Post 5 ; Dodsworth Band; Brook- 
lyn, Post 327 (U. S. Grant), Brooklyn; four carriages, containing 
disabled veterans; drum corps. Post 6; Post band. Post 11, Post 
18; Jefferson Band, Post 19, Post 150; band. Post 191; Bridge- 



port Band, Post 21, Bridgeport, Pa.; Clover Band, Post 14; Mili- 
tary Cornet Band, Post 46 ; Athletic Band, Post 94 ; Ellsworth 
Band, Post 71; Fidelity Band, Post 24; West End Band, Post 
103; National Band, Post 7; Franklin Band, Post 10; United 
States Band, Post 51; Republic Band, Post 160; Kearney Post 
Band, Post 55 ; Harmonic Band, Post 63, Post 80 ; band. Post 
114; Dupont Band, Wilmington, Post 2, Wilmington, Del. ; Plain- 
field Band, Post 73, Plainville, N. J. ; W. Nelson Band, Post 115 ; 
Keystone Band, Post 228; West Philadelphia Band, Post 275, Post 
312; Mt. Pleasant Band, Post 82; Morning Call Band, Post 16. 
Total — 3042. 

Third Division. 

First Brigade, National Guard of Pennsylvania. 

Brigadier-General George R. Snowden commanding. 

Staff — Major Charles H. Townsend, Major R. S. Huidekoper, 
Major A. Lawrence Wetherill, Major R. F. Cullinan, Major James 
W. Cooke, Major William Struthers, Major T. Dewitt Cuyler, 
Captain Roberts Vaux, and Captain James M. Campbell. Second 
Regiment, Colonel Robert P. Dechert commanding. Third Regi- 
ment, Colonel S. Bonnaffon, Jr., commanding. First Regiment, 
Colonel W. P. Bowman, commanding. Battalion State Fencibles, 
Major W. Wes. Chew commanding. Gray Invincibles, Captain 
Charles A. Hailstock. Battery A, Captain Maurice C. Stafford. 

Total — 1860. 

Guests in carriages — Governor James A. Beaver and staff ; 
Major-General John F. Hartranft and staff; Hon. Edwin H. 
Fitler, Mayor of Philadelphia ; officers of the Army, Navy, Ma- 
rine Corps, and National Guard, active and retired ; members of 
Congress and Legislature of Pennsylvania. 

Fourth Division. 

Colonel J. R. C. Ward commanding; Girard College Cadets; 
Soldiers' Orphans' Cadets, Major Henry F. Spicer commanding ; 
Graduates of Lincoln Institute; Sons of Veterans. 

Total— 515. 

Aggregate— 5495. 



THE INVOCATION AND PRAYER. 
Right Rev. Cortlandt Whitehead, Bishop of Pittsburg. 

O God, who art the blessed and only Potentate, the King of 
kings and Lord of lords ; the Almighty Ruler of Nations ; we 
adore and magnify Thy glorious Name. We render Thee thanks 
for the goodly heritage Thou hast given us ; for the civil and re- 
ligious privileges which we enjoy ; and for the multiplied manifes- 
tations of Thy favor towards us. Grant that we may show forth 
our thankfulness for Thy mercies, by living in reverence of Thy 
Almighty power and dominion, in humble reliance on Thy good- 
ness and mercy, and in holy obedience to Thy righteous laws. 

Preserve to our country, we beseech Thee, the blessings of peace 
so hardly won ; restore them to nations deprived of them, and 
secure them to all the people of the earth. May the kingdom of 
the Prince of peace come, and, reigning in the hearts and lives of 
men, unite them in holy fellowship; that so their only strife may 
be, who shall show forth, with most humble and holy fervor, the 
praises of Him who hath loved them and made them kings and 
priests unto God. 

We implore Thy blessing on this whole land, that our Rulers may 
have grace, wisdom, and understanding to execute justice and to 
maintain truth ; that the people may lead quiet and peaceable lives, 
in all godliness and honesty ; that our lands may yield their in- 
crease of the kindly fruits of the earth, giving seed to the sower 
and bread to the eater ; and that all things may be so ordered and 
settled upon the best and surest foundations, that peace and hap- 
piness, truth and justice, religion and piety may be established 
among us for all generations. 

Fashion into one happy people, and weld together in national 
brotherhood, the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds 
and tongues. In the time of our prosperity, fill our hearts with 
thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee 
to fail. 

We commend to Thee the Officers, Soldiers, and Sailors of the 
Army and Navy of the United States, and especially the Veterans 
whose lives are drawing to a close. The more the outward man 



lO 

faileth, do Thou renew the inward man day by day, and be the 
strength of their hearts and their portion forever. 

We commemorate, O Lord, and give Thee thanks for all Thy 
servants, the Soldiers of the Republic, and especially for him, the 
brave General whom we this day delight to honor, who having 
finished their course, do now rest from their labors. We thank 
Thee for what they were and for what they accomplished. May the 
principles for which they fought and bled, and the fabric which 
they by their courage and loyalty have maintained, ever remain 
permanent and secure for all the time to come. And, we humbly 
beseech Thee, give us grace so to follow their good examples, that 
Ve Vi^ith them and they with us, may have our perfect consumma- 
tion and bliss both in body and soul in Thy eternal and everlasting 
glory. 

We commemorate all Thy Saints from the beginning of the 
world ; the Patriarchs and Prophets ; the Apostles and Teachers ; 
the noble army of Martyrs, the valiant and magnanimous De- 
fenders of the Truth, and all the company of the Redeemed ; 
looking for the general resurrection of the last day, and the life of 
the world to come, through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

And now, O Lord, direct us, we pray Thee, in all our doings 
with Thy most gracious favor, and further us with Thy continual 
help, that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in Thee 
we may glorify Thy holy Name, and finally by Thy mercy obtain 
everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who hath taught 
us when we pray to say : " Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed 
be Thy name; Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth 
as it is in heaven ; give us this day our daily bread ; and forgive us 
our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us ; and lead 
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for Thine is the 
Kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever." Amen. 

His Honor, Edwin H. Fitler, presiding, spoke as follows : — 

We have gathered to-day in this public place, and in the pres- 
ence of a free people, to unveil this equestrian statue and dedicate 
it to the memory of General George G. Meade. 

It is eminently proper that we should show in this way our 



II 

appreciation of the valuable services he rendered his country in 
her hour of peril. To him the nation owes a debt of gratitude 
that can never be paid, and this simple but impressive ceremony is 
but the expression of a patriotic sentiment that desires to show its 
love and admiration for the memory of one of the bravest heroes 
that battled for the safety of the Republic. 

It is not for me at this time to dwell in detail upon the life, 
character, and services of General Meade ; that pleasant task will 
be left to the orator of the day. Suffice it for me to say that no 
soldier in Pennsylvania occupies in her history a higher place, nor 
is more securely enshrined in the hearts of the people. Wise in 
council, brave in action, kind, gentle, courteous, he had all the 
qualities of heart and mind that combine to make true greatness. 

A Philadelphian by residence, family ties, and early education, 
his name will always be identified with the fame of our city, and 
inseparably linked with the decisive battle of the war. 

Gettysburg ! What associations cluster about the name ! How it 
carries us back to the hour when an anxious and loyal people stood 
breathless in the presence of the shock of battle : when, between the 
North and the battalions of Lee, the Army of the Potomac under 
Meade stood like a wall of stone ; when Pennsylvania shook under 
the tread of armed men, and the future of the Republic was dark- 
ened by the smoke of battle, and her preservation as a Union hung 
upon the chance of conflict. 

Honor to the memory of Meade, who in the darkest hour never 
despaired, and under whose leadership victory was achieved ! A 
nation that does not reverence her heroes is unworthy the freedom 
she enjoys. Philadelphia does herself honor in thus honoring her 
loyal son, and recognizing the value of his services. 

Permit me now to introduce to you the Hon. Benjamin Harris 
Brewster, representing "The Fairmount Park Art Association." 



ADDRESS OF HON. BENJAMIN HARRIS BREWSTER. 

Mr, President: — I have been deputed by the Fairmount Park 
Art Association to present to you the statue of General Meade, 
which is about to be unveiled. The ceremonies of this occa- 



12 

sion, and the time allotted to another who will pronounce an 
instructive and appropriate oration applicable to the purpose of 
our gathering, will oblige me to be brief. 

The statue which you are about to receive was executed by Mr. 
Alexander Milne Calder, our townsman, an artist of established 
fame and skill. With a sense of public spirit and public duty, 
the Fairmount Park Art Association caused this fine work of art to 
be made. 

In obtaining the means to pay for it and the pedestal upon 
which it will stand there was considerable delay arising from a 
combination of circumstances that were unexpected, and probably 
we would not have had it here this day had it not been that a com- 
mittee of one hundred and nineteen ladies, with Mrs. Bellangee 
Cox as President, undertook to assist in securing the necessary 
sum. 

Thirty thousand dollars has been expended in this fine work of 
art you are now to possess. The Association I represent is an 
essential element of all civilized communities, and an important 
organ of public culture, public morals, and patriotic sentiment. 
To you they confide this memorial of this patriot, this gentleman, 
this upright man, this triumphant soldier. 

As I have before said, when presenting his bust to the Historical 
Society : He was our townsman. We knew him or knew of him 
from his earliest boyhood to the glories of his matured manhood. 
Those who were his kindred and intimates loved him and respected 
him for the simplicity, gentleness, and manly tone of his nature. 
Those who only knew of him saw how he was ruled by a sense of 
duty to the nation whose standard he followed and whose sword 
he carried. We were all proud of him living and we all mourned 
him when he died. His death was felt as a common sorrow, and 
to this hour it is ever mentioned with emotion as a public calamity. 

I will not dilate upon the incidents of his life or his career. 
We all know them. The nation knows them. The history of the 
world will record them. The national and civil life we now 
enjoy we in part owe to his skill and valor. 

His early, quiet, and modest beginning was a fit preparation for 
his after days of great deeds and of public honor. 



13 

It was as a leader and commander of our own Reserve Corps of 
Pennsylvania that he first displayed those qualities of skill, fore- 
thought, courage, and endurance that raised him to the great com- 
mand at the head of which he struck the first body blow at that 
army of Confederates which was marching over the soil of this 
State to destroy our nationality. 

To him we all accord the renown of that great achievement, 
and for him we cherish the gratitude and pride that it is our duty 
and honor to perpetuate by such a memorial as this, because it is a 
part of our common history so dear to freemen and so useful to 
posterity. 

Having said this to you as I said it once before, let me now in 
the name of the Fairmount Park Art Association present you this 
equestrian monument of General George Gordon Meade. 



RECEPTION OF THE STATUE. 

By Honorable George H. Boker, President, on behalf of 
THE Commissioners of Fairmount Park. 

Under leave of his Honor the Mayor, I accept on behalf of the 
city of Philadelphia the memorial which the Fairmount Park Art 
Association has here erected to one of our most illustrious citizens. 

That the Commissioners of Fairmount Park will carefully guard 
and preserve to posterity this noble monument will be but the 
dutiful testimony of our gratitude and affection to the great soldier 
which it commemorates. Among the heroes of the war of the 
Rebellion, none issued from that fearful struggle with a higher and 
more spotless character — a reputation that more invited commen- 
dation and was less open to cavil — than Major-General Meade. 

As the representative of my colleagues of the Park Commission, 
permit me to read General Meade's history backward; and to 
touch for the moment rather on those peaceful deeds which dis- 
tinguished his latter days on the fields around us, than on the 
grand events in which he won fame on the tumultuous fields of 
battle. Standing here, with the beautiful Park which he loved so 



14 

well stretching about us, growing more and more into beauty with 
the passing seasons, let me recall to you the fact that General 
Meade was a member of our Commission from its origin until the 
day of his death. To him, more than to any other single man, 
we owe the admirable arrangement of the drives, the rides, and the 
walks of our spacious public pleasure grounds. When these lands 
were but broken, disjointed, and in some cases almost abandoned 
country seats — when, so far as may be said of nature, there was no 
harmony in the relation of one place to another — when, although 
the lands had been thrown into one, the dividing lines between 
places were as strongly marked as when fences and hedges were 
standing — early and late, in fair weather and in foul, the stately 
form of General Meade was seen, mounted or on foot, studying 
the topography of what was to be the Park, planning the various 
ways of access to its best features, blending together its incongru- 
ous details, and reducing all to that harmony which in anticipation 
was pictured already within his own cultured imagination. To 
form a Park like this is to write a rural poem in field, in wood, and 
in water ; and Heaven lent him the inspiration necessary for its 
production. He gave his time without stint to the labor of love 
which was before him, and he found in the work its own exceeding 
great reward. The services which he rendered to the city in those 
days were priceless, and by the city unpurchasable ; for what he 
did from a sense of duty, and from his personal artistic interest in 
the work itself, he could not have been induced to do through any 
offer of pecuniary or of political recompense. Low motives never 
received consideration from his lofty mind. They were not only 
too far beneath him to be distinguished; they were absolutely in- 
visible to his purer sense. 

I need not dwell on what was the result accomplished by Gen- 
eral Meade's keen topographical eyes, his scientific mind, his fore- 
seeing imagination, and his careful and sedulous labor. The work 
speaks for itself; its monument lies all about you. Like Orlando's 
passion, its inscription is upon every tree ; and a cloud of wit- 
nesses, of all conditions -and ages, from our thickly built city, 
daily send up their unconscious praises to the beneficent hand that 
planned and started towards completion the varied beauties of 
Fairmount Park. 



. ^5 

I recall the prominent part which General Meade had in the lay- 
ing out of this Park, because some may never have known of it, 
some may have forgotten it, and others may not understand the 
vast amount of labor which has been and must be expended on the 
planning and maintenance- of grounds of these vast proportions. 
Let it not be forgotten hereafter. Let every cry of joy that rings 
through these groves from our holiday children ; let every smile 
that curves the lips of their delighted mothers ; let every breath of 
vigor which is here inhaled by our old people ; let the panting 
shouts of our athletic lads, contending for their watery prizes on 
the oar-swept river; let the mingled sighs of the pensively happy 
lovers straying through these secluded glens as though they were 
vales of Paradise ;. let the united multitude of voices from all the 
inhabitants of our great city arise as one in grateful homage to 
the man who turned aside from the well-won glories of his career 
to plan and toil in an humbler sphere for us and our posterity. 

It is not strange that General Meade's services to our Park should 
not be known to the world as well as they are to my colleagues, 
and as they were known to that public-spirited body, the first 
Board of Commissioners, as their records and resolutions passed 
at his death so clearly acknowledge. The last of these worthy 
men has passed away, and it remains for us, their successors, to 
perpetuate, and to bring before the view of our fellow citizens, the 
great debt of gratitude which we owe to one who was so modest 
that he never claimed for himself, or seemed to admit even in the 
privacy of his own mind, the splendid reputation which the whole 
world gladly accorded to him. 

We weaker men are apt — pardonably so let us hope — to snuff up 
as grateful incense any tribute paid by our fellow-men to our 
achievements. I have called General Meade modest. I might 
rather have said that he seemed to be utterly without self-conscious- 
ness. It was my good fortune, two years after the victory, to pass 
through the scenes, on which his glory culminated, of the obsti- 
nate, terrible, triple battle-field of Gettysburg. A small party ac- 
companied General Meade on that occasion, all of whom were so 
near and dear to him that he might have said anything in our pres- 
ence, however self-laudatory, without provoking in us any emotion 



i6 

save that of grateful recognition. We were all too much under 
the spell of the scene to regard General Meade in any other light 
than as a hero of romance. He might have told us anything, in 
Homeric numbers even, and we would have regarded it with that 
passionate faith which an ancient Greek gave to the Iliad. To my 
surprise, then, and to my greater surprise when I came to ponder it. 
General Meade spoke of the Battle of Gettysburg as though he were 
but the historian of that tremendous occasion. He made us as fa- 
miliar with the whole three days' action as though we had been 
spectators of all parts of the battle-field, or rather as though he 
himself had been such a spectator, and had at that time had neither 
part nor lot in the awful tragedy which was enacted before him. 
He spoke of all his officers — of Reynolds, of Howard, of Han- 
cock, of Gibbon, of Hunt, of Gregg, of Buford, of Geary, of Webb, 
of Sykes, of Sedgwick, of Crawford, of Stannard, of Humphreys, 
of Newton, of Warren, and of many other leaders in that long 
roll of glory. He praised them all to the level of their deserts, 
not grudgingly, but with the hearty enthusiasm of a man in love 
with his heroes, until our cheeks burned and tingled with respon- 
sive passion ; but not one word, not one word, had he to say 
of Meade, nor of his share in the contest. He did not once use 
the pronoun I. He did not mention that he was here, there, or 
anywhere, during the fight. From all we could learn from him, 
the Battle of Gettysburg fought itself, through the instrumentality 
of corps and division leaders, but without a Commander-in-Chief. 
Once more I say that it was not strange that the civic services 
which General Meade rendered to his beloved Philadelphia — im- 
portant and lasting as they were to our city — should be overlooked 
or forgotten in the blaze of military glory which will ever surround 
his name. The greater light has eclipsed the smaller. What would 
have made the reputation of an humbler man is lost in the lustre of 
his greatness. But there are things to love and cherish as well as 
to admire and exalt ; and, among us, to whom it is not given to 
walk heroic paths and to be the subjects of the historian and the 
poet, be it remembered as often as we tread these grounds how 
much they owe to the chief who here laid aside his arms and put 
his hand to the homely plow without once looking back to see 
who followed or who applauded him. 



^7 

There are those present — cert^-inly there are among the gray 
heads of my colleagues the Commissioners — who can remember the 
anxious days and sleepless nights in Philadelphia which preceded 
and accompanied the three momentous days of the Battle of Get- 
tysburg. They need not be told what was the condition of the 
State of Pennsylvania, ravaged through its southern and middle 
counties by a seemingly triumphant foe, its capital almost besieged, 
and its metropolis in no remote danger should the enemy's swift 
marches remain unchecked. A panic was threatened among the weak 
and the timid, many of whom were secretly removing their wealth 
to New York, which it required all the efforts of the then powerful 
Union League and kindred organizations to subdue, so as to lift 
our people to a point of decent manhood. Once more those who 
condemned the war were raising their voices prophetic of disaster ; 
once more the insidious hiss of the " copperhead " was heard in our 
very streets; and certain faces, which had scowled since Antietam, 
once m.ore became wreathed with traitorous smiles. Those were 
gloomy and terrible days. Nor in the early times of the mighty 
raid did many of us know that the Army of the Potomac was on 
the march to protect us ; and when that fact became general news, 
with it came also the announcement that its commander had been 
displaced, and had been succeeded by one as yet untried in a great 
command, which latter fact once more filled us with consternation 
and paled the faces into which the blood had just begun to creep. 
Then began the awful suspense of the three days of furious battle, 
the best news from which at first was that despite the death of the 
gallant Reynolds, the driving back of Howard, and the defeat of 
Sickles' corps, the grand old Army of the Potomac held its ground, 
and that reinforcements were on the way to support it. Wisdom 
is justified of all her children. The extraordinary measures which 
that inspired ruler, Abraham Lincoln, had taken with the army on 
the very verge of battle were found to be those best adapted to the 
occasion, and were triumphantly vindicated by the event when 
the intelligent wires of the telegraph burned with the news of Pick- 
ett's repulse, of Lee's retreat, of the overwhelming victory of the 
new Commander-in-Chief, and later with the welcome news that 
the last rebel foot had passed in flight from the soil of Pennsylva- 



nia. The first free breath that our citizens drew went up in a cheer 
for General Meade and his valiant comrades in arms. 

You all know the result of the victory of Gettysburg. It was 
the first fatal step in the downfall of the Southern Confederacy. 
It was the crisis of the war. It broke the military power of the 
South past recovery. After that battle the Army of Virginia was 
never able to assume the offensive; it fought a defensive campaign 
from that hour until its surrender at Appomattox. That General 
Meade, under God's Providence, was the instrument that effected 
this glorious result, I believe will be the verdict of history when 
the events of the war are considered in distant perspective, when 
its salient features become more plain and its details less obvious 
and perplexing. We are even yet too near the occurrences of the 
war to give us a just view of its true proportions, and to enable us 
to select from its many great battles the few on which the fortunes 
of the opposing forces turned, whether for final triumph or final 
defeat. We are as yet like explorers wandering through a broken 
region, who magnify every height they scale into a mountain ; that 
which is close at hand being the theme of their exclamations and 
the source from which their reason forms conclusions. These may 
or may not be erroneous. But let us withdraw, as men hereafter 
will withdraw with the Muse of History, from the lands over which 
we have toiled so perplexedly, and from the distance view the con- 
tour of the country out of which details have vanished, and of 
which the prominent characteristics alone remain. Then we shall 
see before us a region, mountainous and bewildering indeed, but 
overlooked and dominated by a few lofty peaks, to which men 
shall give unforgotten names, and upon whose summits the sun of 
truth shall linger long after all the subject lands lie in darkness and 
oblivion. Even so will it be with the few great names that, in the 
lapse of endless time, will survive and keep alive the memory of 
our civil war, and among them one of the highest, the purest, the 
most symmetrical and most illustrious, will be that of George Gor- 
don Meade. 

INTRODUCTION OF THE ORATOR. 



ORATION. 

GENERy\L JoHN GiBBON, UnITED StATES ArMY. 



Nearly forty years ago the Seminole Indians broke out and 
commenced murdering the settlers in Florida. Troops were 
sent into the coufltry and a line of camps was established 
across the Peninsula. Into one of these camps, late one 
afternoon, rode a horsem'an attended by a single orderly. 
He was a gaunt, thin man, with a hatchet face and a promi- 
nent aquiline nose. He introduced himself as Lieutenant 
Meade, Topographical Engineers, just from a reconnoissance 
on the hostile border. He was wet, tired, and hungry. It 
was my good fortune to be able to offer dry clothes, food, and 
a bed of blankets to one whose name was destined fourteen 
years later to render famous the little town of Gettysburg, in 
the southern part of Pennsylvania. 

It was the first time I had met him. He was then about 
thirty-four years of age, had accompanied our army into 
Mexico, served in the war with that country in a subordinate 
position and without any especial notice. The next time we 
met he was a Brigadier-General of volunteers, commanding a 
•brigade of the Pennsylvania Reserves in front of Washington 
in the fall of 1861. 

Up to that time Meade had never commanded even a com- 
pany of soldiers. Hence he entered upon his military duties 
totally unused personally to active command, and dependent 
for success upon the basis of his military education and his 
good judgment and tact in governing men. Although, there- 
fore, an officer of the regular army. General Meade was essen- 
tially a volunteer, commanding volunteers. These, fresh from 
the ranks of the people, and green in all military matters, 



20 

were totally ignorant of the art of war, its stern requirements, 
or the exactions and sacrifices incident to the preparation for 
it. Meade was especially fortunate in his associates ; for George 
A. McCall, one of the most distinguished ofificers of his time, 
was his division commander, and the other brigade command- 
ers were destined to inscribe their names high on the glory 
roll of their country — John F. Reynolds and E. O. C. Ord. 

There were regular officers who at the commencement of 
our civil war, unmindful of the different circumstances under 
which they were serving, seemed to think there was but one 
way to enforce discipline in our volunteer forces, and that was 
by following the old rut and routine of the regular army. 
Such an idea never found place in the minds of the officers! 
have mentioned ; and the results, as exemplified in the subse- 
quent career of the Pennsylvania Reserves, amply justified 
the wisdom and sound judgment of those they were fortunate 
enough to have placed in command over them. 

It was frequently noted, during the war and afterwards, 
how much of the renown gained by volunteer organizations 
could be traced back to the right direction given to their 
efforts by the sound judgment, good, hard common sense, 
firm hand, and just dealings of the commanders who first took 
them in charge. 

For these qualities Meade became early distinguished ; and 
his efforts in disciplining, drilling his command, and gaining 
the confidence of his men were fully exemplified in the first- 
battles they went into and in their whole subsequent career. 

On the 30th of June, 1862, General Meade was severely 
wounded at the head of his brigade in the battle of Glendale, 
and retired from the field. This wound ultimately caused his 
early death in 1872. Six weeks after it was received he re- 
joined his command, took part in the disastrous campaign 
terminating in the defeat of our army at the second battle of 
Bull Run in the last days of August. 

The problem in that campaign, although a simple one, was 



21 

difficult in practical solution principally from the fact that there 
were too many people giving commands to the army. 

The problem was how and in what time to get the Army 
of the Potomac and the Army of Virginia together in front of 
Washington, before Lee could bring superior forces to bear 
upon the latter army. Moving the one army back whilst the 
other was moving forward would shorten at both ends the dis- 
tance between them, and insure a junction in about one-half the 
time it would take if the army in front stood still whilst the 
other moved up to join it from the rear. I touch upon this mat- 
ter merely that I may refer to a conversation held with Meade 
at the time our army was concentrated about Warrenton. He 
had recently returned to his command, and informed me that 
he had just held a conversation with the army commander, 
General Pope, during which Meade asked him the question, 
" What are you doing out here ? You should be falling back 
towards Washington." It is a well-known fact that the au- 
thorities in Washington sent Pope orders to hold his ground 
in advanced positions at the front. Mark the fact that, whilst 
an obscure brigade commander, the future commander of the 
Army of the Potomac had well-defined, sound ideas upon that 
all-important and much underrated subject in military opera- 
tions — strategy. 

Too many commanders resulted in Lee striking one of our 
armies before the other reached its support except in part, 
and after a disastrous defeat we were forced back into the de- 
fenses of Washington. 

By the detachment of John F. Reynolds to organize the • 
Pennsylvania militia for the defense of Harrisburg, General 
Meade became the commander of the Division of the Penn- 
sylvania Reserves, then serving in the ist Corps, commanded 
by General Hooker. That division he commanded in the 
battles of South Mountain and Antietam. In the latter 
battle the corps was repulsed in its attack on the enemy's 
position ; and, immediately after, Hooker was wounded and 



22 

left the field. Whilst lying on the ground Hooker expressed 
a wish that Meade (who was not next to himself in rank in 
the corps) Avere in command of the ist Corps. This wish was 
uttered in the hearing of General John Buford, who, mount- 
ing his horse, rode in hot haste to General McClellan's head- 
quarters and reported Hooker's wish. An order was at once 
issued placing Meade in command of the corps irrespective 
of rank. Thus early in the war was he specially selected on 
the field of battle for the high and responsible position of 
commanding an army corps. He retained this command 
until the return of Reynolds, when Meade reverted to his 
division, which he retained until he was permanently assigned 
to the command of the 5th Army Corps, soon after the disas- 
trous defeat of the Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg 
in December, 1862. In this last battle he bore with his divis- 
ion a prominent part under Reynolds on our left, where by 
a gallant charge he broke through the enemy's first line, but 
was forced to give ground by superior numbers. 

Meade's rise had been gradual and sure, and we now find 
him in the position of a corps commander, where it was natu- 
ral to suppose his advice and influence would have a strong 
bearing upon the welfare and future operations of the Army 
of the Potomac. He began now to assume prominence in the 
eyes of men, and his name was already mentioned in connec- 
tion with the future command of that army. But before any 
change was made or even contemplated that devoted army was 
destined to undergo a fiery ordeal in the Chancellorsville cam- 
paign of May, 1863, and a controversy which grew out of that 
battle doubtless caused the eyes of the Washington authori- 
ties to be still further directed towards Meade as one of its 
possible future commanders. 

At the close of that disastrous battle, in which Hooker was 
badly outgeneraled and signally defeated by vastly inferior 
forces, a council of war was held, at which a very decided 
disinclination to retreat Avas exhibited by prominent generals 



23 

who preferred to remain there and fight, giving employment to 
two whole corps which had scarcely fired a shot in the battle. 
It has almost become a proverb in military affairs that " coun- 
cils of war never fight," but the council at Chancellorsville was 
one of the exceptions to the rule. Contrary to the opinion 
expressed by his prominent generals, Hooker decided to with- 
draw his army to the north bank of the Rappahannock River. 
It was the second instance within nine months where the com- 
mander rather than the army was whipped. 

Then followed Lee's offensive operations and the race north- 
ward of the two great armies, which were finally to come in 
contact at Gettysburg and there decide definitely the fate of 
the campaign. 

To say that after the battle of Chancellorsville the army had 
lost faith in Hooker is simply to state a self-evident proposi- 
tion, for although instances have occurred where armies retain 
their faith in the commanders under whom they have been un- 
fortunate, this was not one of such cases, and the intelligent 
rank and file of our American volunteers could not conceal 
from themselves the fact that we had been badly defeated by 
inferior numbers, and that as a consequence of that defeat 
we, instead of invading the enemy's country, were moving 
back towards Washington for the purpose of defending our 
own territory against his offensive operations. The members 
of that army could not if they would, thrust out of sight the 
all-important questions, " What is going to be the result of 
the next conflict?" and "Are we to have Chancellorsville re- 
peated under the same commander ? " With many a mis^ 
giving, directly the result of the Chancellorsville campaign, 
we moved northward, left Virginia, entered Maryland and 
were approaching Frederick City, when a staff officer came 
riding along the road on the 28th of June and surprised me 
with the information that Hooker had been relieved from 
command of the army. With considerable trepidation I 
asked, "Who succeeds him?" and I uttered a sigh of relief 



24 

and an involuntary " thank God for that" when he rephed, 
"General Meade!" 

The American people were rushed into a terrible war with- 
out the slightest conception of what war really is, and, with 
the exception of the comparatively few who had had a little 
experience thirteen years before in the Mexican war, no one 
had the slightest idea of the stern requirements, the suffering, 
heartburnings, and terrible sacrifices incident to a state of Avar. 
It will always be the proudest boast in the history of this 
country that a free, independent people should have gone into 
such a war, with such an inadequate idea of what would be 
required of them, and should have so thoroughly and cheer- 
fully surrendered to the stern Moloch of war almost every 
right and privilege that a free people deem sacred. 

To me it was the most wonderful of things to see men go 
into the field, proud in their feelings of independence and in- 
dividuality, confident they knew all about it, and prepared to 
carry 'everything before them with the same vim and rush 
which had carried them successfully through many a tight 
business place in civil life, gradually awaken to the fact that 
now they were all " at sea" on new and unknown waters, where 
few of the rules which had heretofore governed their lives 
were applicable. It was touching to see how they stumbled 
along, trying to learn, with the blind leading the blind, and how 
eagerly they clung to any one showing a capacity and a willing- 
ness to guide them into the right paths, and when they found 
such a one how completely they surrendered to him every- 
thing which a few weeks before they would have yielded to 
no one but God himself! This feeling, which said so plainly 
" show us the right road," constituted the opportunity of the 
regular army, and almost every one possessed of the simplest 
A B C of the military art was eventually pushed eagerly to 
the front. Curtin, your great War Governor, will readily tell 
you how, in the latter years of the war, appeal after appeal 
was made to him by bodies of free, independent American 



25 

citizens for some one to reign over them, show them what to 
do, how to do it, and how to lead them in battle. 

The Military Academy, .much as it has been reproached 
because every graduate did not blossom into a full-grown 
Napoleon, can at least claim that although West Point does 
not make Generals, West Point officers have made thousands 
of good soldiers, and have demonstrated the fact that the 
American volunteer, when he has a chance to be instructed in 
the military profession, is \hQ first soldier' in the world! It 
may be truthfully asserted that although we were frequently 
out-generaled during the war, we were seldom out-soldiered. 

Towards the close of the war what a transformation of 
opinion took place ! Then all in the army and many out of 
it recognized as an established fact that an army to be suc- 
cessful must be a perfectly organized machine, subject to the 
control of one man, subject to his sole control ; and it not un- 
frequently happened that the powers of command were exer- 
cised in a despotic and even arbitrary manner. Every com- 
mander who was not allowed this kind of control failed of 
success, and those who did succeed were conspicuously those 
who were not so hampered. One of the most distinguished 
soldiers produced by our war once said if he thought his cap 
knew what was going on in his head he would take it off and 
cast it from him. And yet the commander of one of our 
prominent armies confided to the Committee on the Conduct 
of the War with great apparent frankness his plans and pur- 
poses one month before active operations of his army com- 
menced, giving plenty of time for the enemy to fully post 
himself! Fortunately no harm was done in this particular 
case, since the campaign, when it took place, differed so com- 
pletely from the one laid down in the committee room that its 
own author could not have recognized it. 

McClellan, who forged the bolt afterwards to be hurled so 
many times against the rebel hosts, was required beforehand 
to submit his plan of campaign to the War Department, at a 



26 

time when every street and almost every house in Washington 
was swarming with active, energetic spies! and was himself 
placed in charge of one of these armies, the operations of which 
Grant two years later compared to those of a " balky team." 

In those two years, however, we had learned something of 
war. In Grant's hands were placed the reins of the whole 
team, and the great President, whose firm hand guided the 
ship of state, in bidding him good-bye as he started on his 
campaign, bade him God speed, and added, " I do not even 
ask you your plan of campaign !" 

No man recognized this cardinal principle of control in the 
field sooner or more thoroughly than did General Meade. 
In his commands, up to this time, his zuill, controlled by good, 
sound judgment and a just administration of the law, the reg- 
ulations, and the customs of the service, was the law. Knowing 
him so well, I do not for a moment question that, had he 
been consulted and allowed any option, he would have fol- 
lowed exactly the course pursued by that other great soldier 
of the Army of the Potomac, John F. Reynolds. 

On very good authority it is stated that when a successor 
to Burnside was under consideration at Washington, the name 
of John F. Reynolds came up, as it was bound to do in any 
consideration of the subject, and that somebody (probably 
General Halleck) communicated with him and sounded him 
upon the subject. Up to that time the Army of the Potomac 
never had had a commander who had not been hampered by in- 
structions and orders from Washington, which, if they had no 
other evil effect, certainly tended to destroy that independence 
of judgment and undivided control of the army before referred 
to as so essential to successful operations. The published 
correspondence in the records of the rebellion teems with re- 
peated instances of this kind. 

Of course there is no intention of denying to a govern- 
ment the self-evident duty of dictating to its armies the 
military and political necessities of their operations. But 



27 

having laid these down, all further interference in the practical 
operations in the field should cease, and the commander on the 
spot be allowed to carry on his operations in his own way. 
If he fails, the only remedy is to relieve him from command, 
and the risk of failure is a less evil than any likely to result 
from placing the responsibility upon his shoulders and denying 
to him the corresponding control. 

Reynolds' reply was just what might have been expected 
from such a soldier, and is said to have been to the effect that 
whilst he stood prepared to obey all lawful orders sent him, 
yet, if any option were allowed he could not voluntarily ac- 
cept the command unless a libei^ty of action were guaranteed 
to him considerably beyond what he had any reason to ex- 
pect. There is no mistaking the meaning of this language 
from a soldier like Reynolds, and as a possible commander 
his name sank out of sight. The Government was not yet 
prepared to act on sound military principles, nor bestow high 
command hampered with conditions by the recipient, and 
hence a few months later, when the necessity for relieving 
Hooker became imperative, Meade received no warning from 
the Government and was allowed no option in the matter. He 
was awakened at midnight by a special messenger from Wash- 
ington, and so completely surprised that he could imagine no 
cause for the visit except that he was to be placed in arrest ! 

The conclusion to which he jumped amply demonstrates 
how completely unexpected to him was the order placing him 
in command of the army. The foundation for his conclusion, 
when awakened to find himself confronted by Colonel Hardie, 
dates back to the battle of Chancellorsville, barely two months 
before. To properly represent the matter I must revert to 
that battle. As already stated, a council was held at Hooker's 
headquarters after the fighting had ceased, and that in it a 
strong disinclination to retreat was manifested. Reynolds 
and Meade, neither of whose corps had been seriously engaged 
in the battle, the ist Corps not at all, were both outspoken in 



28 

their opinion that the arrny should iiot retreat ; and Reynolds, 
whilst the council Avas going on, lay down, saying as he did 
so, " My vote will be the same as Meade's," and went sound 
asleep ! Such a thing could not very well have happened 
without a thorough understanding between himself and Meade 
in regard to their opinion as to what was the proper course 
to pursue. But Hooker determined to retreat, and, in spite of 
the formidable condition of the swollen Rappahannock, the 
army successfully recrossed the river. 

The statement which I now make I had from the lips of 
General Meade himself, soon afterwards. It is confirmed in 
every particular by his private letters written at the time. He 
had an interview with General Hooker, and the recent opera- 
tions were discussed between them. To Meade's astonishment 
Hooker informed him that in his determination to retreat he 
had depended more upon Reynolds' and Meade's opinion than 
on any others of his officers. " But," said Meade, in surprise, 
" I did not counsel retreat ! " Hooker insisted that he had, and 
that he had so reported to Washington ! Upon which Meade 
told him in very decided terms that he should join issue with 
him in the matter, as he had persistently insisted that the army 
should not retreat. Hooker astonished him still more by say- 
ing, " You expressed the opinion at the council that you did 
not believe it was practicable, under the circumstances, for the 
army to withdraw, but I knew that it was practicable" (when 
this conversation took place it had proved practicable), " and 
therefore the main objection you had urged against a retreat 
being groundless, I considered you really in favor of retreat-. 
ing ! " Here was a direct and serious rupture between the army 
commander and one of his principal subordinates, and the one 
of all others on whom the army commander declared he had 
relied when he gave the order to retreat. Is it any wonder 
that Meade, waked out of a sound sleep at midnight, and 
confronted with a special messenger bearing an order from the 
War Department, should have jumped to the conclusion that 



29 

the order was one placing him in arrest, rather than one giving 
him command of the army ? 

All will admit it was a hazardous thing to transfer the com- 
mand of a great army whilst on the march, and almost in con- 
tact with a powerful, enthusiastic enemy, acting then energeti- 
cally on the offensive. But the results of the measure justified 
it in every respect. Meade was equal to the occasion. He 
was at once assured of the enthusiastic support and co-opera- 
tion of his most prominent generals, and the following day he 
issued his orders for the advance of his army. 

The battle of Gettysburg opened three days afterwards. It 
is needless on this occasion to repeat the oft-told story of that 
three days' fierce and sanguinary struggle, in which the brave 
old Army of the Potomac, loyal always to any and every com- 
mander, and to its great mission, hurled back the surging 
waves of Lee's veterans, strewed with its dead and wounded 
the highest tide-mark of the rebellion, and thrust Lee's army 
back from loyal soil. 

It may not, however, be deemed inappropriate on an occa- 
sion like this to refer to some of the incidents preceding and 
attending that battle, for, as in a great many other cases, some 
of the facts have been rendered obscure from the cloudy state- 
ments which have been thrown around them. 

A commander placed in the position where, by an imper- 
ative order of his Government, Meade now found himself, was 
bound at once to enter into some speculation regarding what 
his enemy was doing, what he proposed to do, and what 
course was incumbent upon him to thwart his hostile designs. 
The known elements of the problem before him were very 
few. That Lee was in Pennsylvania, to the north of him, he 
knew, but where he was, or what he was doing, he did not 
know, and could not immediately discover. Unfortunately, 
with a capable opponent acting on the offensive, much of what 
he intends to do, or may possibly do, has to be guessed at. 
Lee might push on to Harrisburg, cross the Susquehanna, 



30 

capture the capital of the State, and march on this city. He 
miglit retrace his steps, place himself between Meade's army 
and Washington and endanger the safety of the national cap- 
ital, or he might, if so disposed and mindful of the number of 
sympathizers to be found in the city of Baltimore, almost east 
from Meade's position, move directly on that city. His pos- 
session of Baltimore would still more seriously imperil Wash- 
ington. Now, whilst defending both Washington and Balti- 
more by interposing his army, Meade, if slow in moving, 
might give Lee time to march northward, effect the crossing 
of the Susquehanna and the capture of Harrisburg. This 
I personally knew was a matter which filled Meade's thoughts 
and gave him very great concern. A glance at the map will 
show north-east of Frederick, and at a distance about equal to 
that from Baltimore, the small town of Westminster, then the 
terminus of a railroad from Baltimore, giving a short line of 
supply from that city. In front of Westminster a few miles, 
and running from east to west, will be found Big Pipe Creek, a 
stream which, from its size, would probably be found to furnish a 
good defensive position, its location beingjust what was wanted 
for a line of battle on which Baltimore, and consequently 
Washington, could be most successfully defended. Hence 
Meade threw forward his corps in a north-eastwardly direction 
from Frederick, saying to his chief of cavalry, " I have no other 
instructions to give you than to keep the front and flanks of 
this army well scouted and protected." The selection of the 
Pipe Creek line, whether intended as one on which to form as 
the army moved forward, or as a position to fall back upon 
after the army had passed beyond, was an admirable one. 
That Meade did not propose to form that line advancing is 
sufficiently shown by the fact that on the ist of July every 
corps of his army, with the exception possibly of the 6th, was 
north of that line, and the line was being examined and located 
by staff officers with a view to occupying it. 

Should Lee, whose positions were still imperfectly known, 



31 

suddenly assume the offensive towards the Army of the Poto- 
mac, Meade Avas prepared to place his army on the defensive 
in a positionhe knew all about. But on the istof July he re- 
ceived the news he was anxiously awaiting, and learned that 
the indefatigable Buford had discovered the enemy, and that 
in hurrying to Buford's assistance the brave, skillful soldier, 
John F. Reynolds, who never failed to obey the soldier's in- 
stinct by marching to the sound of the guns, had fallen. 

I pause a moment to lay a wreath upon the ashes of this 
great soldier and brave, honest, warm-hearted gentleman. I 
was once irritated beyond measure at hearing a prominent 
officer attempt to defend John F. Reynolds from the charge of 
rashness for his action on the ist of July. John F. Reynolds 
needs no defense ! His conduct on that day was pre-emi- 
nently prudent, except in the one particular of personal expo- 
sure ; but personal fearlessness was one of John F. Reynolds' 
characteristics. The stand he made with his troops rendered 
it possible for Meade to gain a victory at Gettysburg. In hot 
haste, Meade at Taney town dispatched Hancock to replace 
Reynolds. As one of the numerous controversies which have 
arisen since the battle of Gettysburg is in regard to the powers 
bestowed upon General Hancock on that occasion, a simple 
quotation from Meade's letter of instruction, dated i.io P. M., 
July 1st, ought to be sufficient to settle the question. It says : 
" That you proceed to the front, and by virtue of this order, in 
case of the truth of General Reynolds' death, you assume com- 
mand oi Xh^ corps there assembled, viz.: the nth, ist, and 3d, 
at Emmittsburg." Hancock, of course, obeyed his order. 

One other point in this same letter of instruction it is well to 
note as bearing upon the site of the coming battle. " If you 
think (it says) the ground and position there a better one on 
which to fight a battle, under existing circumstances, you will so 
advise the General, and he zvill order all the troops up.'" Mark 
the peculiar phraseology, " a better one on which to fight a 
battle." 



32 

A " better one " than what? Why of course than Big Pipe 
Creek, for the letter adds, " You knotv the Generars views, and 
General Warren, zvho is fidly aware of thevi, has gone out to 
see General Reynolds." Thus did General Meade commit 
substantially to his chosen Lieutenant the determination of the 
site of the coming battle. Had Reynolds lived the question 
would probably have turned upon the opinion of that distin- 
guished soldier. But Reynolds having fallen, Meade decided 
to replace him by one whom he knew and on whose judgment 
he could rely. 

Hancock's report, after his arrival on the ground, scarcely 
met the question submitted in his letter of instruction, but on 
such as it was Meade formed his decision, ordered "all the 
troops up',' and by a night ride placed himself on the field of 
battle shortly after midnight. 

Since that battle almost as many claimants for the merit of 
selecting the field of battle at Gettysburg have sprung up as 
there were cities to claim the birthplace of Homer. As I have 
shown, the action of Reynolds' command rendered the occu- 
pation of that field possible. After the action of the ist of 
July, a man might as well claim merit for a fluid flowing into 
the mouth of a bottle because he poured it into the funnel, as 
to claim the selection of Cemetery Ridge for the coming bat- 
tle. When our troops were driven from Seminary Ridge, 
Cemetery Ridge was the place and the only place fof them to 
rally, and there they were rallied and placed in position by 
Hancock, whose opportune arrival on the field was fully ad- 
mitted at the time in the army. 

That Meade's determination to fight at Gettysburg was fully 
made up, is sufficiently demonstrated by the fact that every 
corps of his army was that night directed to that point — the 
5th Corps marching nearly all night and the 6th all night and 
part of the next day to reach it. 

The battle of Gettysburg, a purely defensive one, is remark- 
able, not so much for anything that Meade did or did not do 



33 

there, as it is for the fact that, taking command only three days 
before the battle, he moved his army forward without a day's 
delay, placed it in position on Cemetery Ridge, repulsed all 
assaults of Lee's army, and compelled it to retreat out of 
Pennsylvania and the abandonment of its offensive campaign. 
His action and the results were hailed with satisfaction by the 
authorities and the loyal people of the country. To compare 
small things with great ones, Meade's task may be aptly lik- 
ened to that imposed upon a man in whose hands the reins of 
a spirited team are placed at a critical moment and on a diffi- 
cult road, and who succeeds in avoiding the ruts, rocks, and 
stumps of an unknown route, and lands his passengers safe 
and sound at the end of their journey. 

His task, and the manner in which he performed it, were 
duly appreciated and highly applauded, when on the 4th of 
July, 1863, the results of the battle were flashed over the 
country, and men, women, and children, who had stood with 
bated breath when the invasion was in progress, now breathed 
once more, and felt that the country was saved. 

I have stated that Meade's principal anxiety, previous to 
the battle, seemed to be lest Lee should succeed in crossing 
the Susquehanna before he could close upon him sufficiently 
to compel him to let go his hold upon that stream. But his 
able opponent was not to be caught in any such trap, and had 
already given orders for the concentration of his army near 
Gettysburg, in his rear, before the conflict of July ist took 
place. 

I do not expect this assemblage to agree with me in what I 
am now going to say, but as a military question I have but little 
doubt that, had Meade failed in preventing Lee from crossing 
the Susquehanna, it would have been better for us even had 
this city of Philadelphia reverberated with the sound of hos- 
tile guns ! Had Lee marched on this city with the Army of 
the Potomac behind him, it is a safe prediction that his army, 
as an organization, would never have recrossed the Potomac, 
and probably never the Susquehanna. 



34 

But in making" this criticism I am placing myself in the 
numerous category of those who after the battle have demon- 
strated to their own satisfaction how much better this cam- 
paign might have been conducted than it was. " Heroes" are 
always more numerous after a battle than before one, or whilst 
it is going on, and military problems are always more easily 
solved after all the unknown quantities have become known, 
than they are during the conflict, when most of these quanti- 
ties are still the cloudy x's, y's, and z's of the equation. 

It is worth no man's while to attempt to defend General 
Meade from a charge which came very near being made the 
pretext for depriving him of the command of the army. 
Those who knew the character of the man will not hesitate to 
accept as conclusive his adjuration made before the Commit- 
tee on the conduct of the war, and repeated in other places 
with the same earnestness. " I deny (he says), under the full 
solemnity and sanctity of my oath, and in the firm conviction 
that the day will come when the secrets of all men shall be 
known — I utterly deny ever having intended, or thought for 
one instant, to withdraw that army, unless the military con- 
tingencies, which the future should develop during the course 
of the day, might render it a matter of necessity that the 
army should be withdrawn." 

But, whilst not deeming it necessary to attempt any defense 
against this charge of an intended retreat, I believe the time 
has now come, and that this is a suitable occasion, to emphat- 
ically declare, no matter what errors or misconceptions may 
have existed in the minds of others, that there is not the 
slightest evidence tending to show any intention in the mind 
of General Meade to retreat from the field of Gettysburg on 
the rnorning of the 2d of July, or at any other time during 
the continuance of the battle. 

A free country is sometimes a hard master, and where the 
whole nation was Avrought up to the intense feeling which ex- 
isted here in 1863, the demands made upon its public servants 



35 

are apt to be exorbitant and occasionally somewhat unreason- 
able. Satisfied, for the moment, with the total repulse of 
Lee's army and the defeat of his invasion, the next demand 
was for the annihilation of his army. But a well-organized, 
Avell-disciplined, and brave army, even when defeated, is not 
annihilated every day, and the only instances of the capture 
of large armies during our civil war were where they were so 
reduced in numbers or supplies as to render any further re- 
sistance hopeless in a military point of view. 

Meade, conscientious, honest, and faithful, but quick-tem- 
pered, was cut to the quick by Halleck's dispatch con- 
veying to him, in terms which the good President would 
hardly have made use of himself, the " great dissatisfaction in 
the mind of the President " at " the escape of Lee's army 
without another battle," and adding that " it will require an 
active and energetic pursuit on your part to remove the im- 
pression that it has not been sufficiently active heretofore." 

Fancy such a dispatch sent the commander of a victorious 
army, with whose gallant deeds the whole country with one 
voice was applauding ! Ls it any wonder that the quick-tem- 
pered soldier, smarting under the undeserved rebuke, should 
have instantly replied, at 2.30 P. M. the same day: " Having 
performed my duty conscientiously, and to the best of my 
ability, the censure of the President (conveyed in your dis- 
patch of I P. M. this day) is, in my judgment, so undeserved 
that I feel compelled, most respectfully, to ask to be immedi- 
ately relieved from the command of this army." 

But the Government could not afford to comply with his 
request, and with grim humor, in commenting afterwards upon 
Halleck's reply to it, Meade said it was even worse than the 
original dispatch, for, whilst disclaiming any intention to cen- 
sure, added that it was sent simply "as a stimulus to an active 
pursuit ! " 

That great soldier who has been named " The Rock of 
Chickamauga," situated under similar circumstances, but with 



36 

a disposition more even-tempered than Meade's, took time by 
the forelock and humbly telegraphed, "if it be deemed advisa- 
ble to relieve me from the command of this army I will sub- 
mit without a murmur." It was thus that great soldiers treated 
any imputation against their faithful performance of duty or 
their conscientious exercise of their judgment as coinmanders 
on the spot. 

It is not necessary to follow closely General Meade's oper- 
ations subsequent to the battle of Gettysburg and up to the 
close of the war, for most of the facts have now become 
matters of history. Succeeding to the command of the Army 
of the Potomac in a way utterly unexpected to himself, 
his appointment was the result neither of personal solici- 
tations on his own part, nor of the political intrigues which 
but too frequently governed in such cases. He was placed in 
command unidentified with any of the cliques popularly sup- 
posed to exist in that army, and yet there were not wanting 
those who attributed some of his prominent acts to the influ- 
ence of this, that, or the other party. Cheered by the assurance 
of the Secretary of War that the whole power of the War De- 
partment should be exerted in his support, he selected, as far as 
in his power, and according to his best j udgment, those on whom 
he could best rely in the crisis thus suddenly confronting him. 
That he would in this way necessarily make some enemies 
he does not for a moment appear to have contemplated, nor, 
if he thought of it at all, does he seem to have cared. With 
well-defined opinions and the courage to carry them out, he 
followed the course, in every case, which in his judgment ap- 
peared to him the best and soundest, disregarding alike hos- 
tile criticism and the carping comments of the public press, 
recognizing the fact that the position he occupied had always 
been open to public criticism, and that a sufficient answer 
in all cases would be the success of his army if directed 
on true military principles. That he was eminently qual- 
ified, by firmness and decision, for the position he occupied 



37 

is sufificiently shown by his not hesitating to fall back in the 
autumn of 1863, when Lee assumed the offensive, and by 
his retreat from Mine Run when it was discovered that an as- 
sault upon Lee's intrenched position was too hazardous to be 
undertaken. His decision in this last case was complicated, 
too, by the fact that it was, in a measure, forced upon him by 
one of his subordinates. Under General Warren, one of his 
most trusted corps commanders, was placed a large portion of 
the army to make a flank attack. The hour for the attack 
arrived, and the sound of Warren's guns was anxiously 
awaited. But they were not heard, and at last came the news 
that in Warren's judgment the attack, under the changed cir- 
cumstances of the case, ought not to be made. Meade recog- 
nized too fully the rights and responsibilities resting on the 
shoulders of the commander on the spot to find fault with 
Warren's action, and, though with sore regret, he acquiesced 
in it and withdrew his army without accomplishing the object 
■of the expedition. It is believed that General Warren lost 
nothing in the estimation of his commanding general, who 
recognized in its fullest sense the duty incumbent upon a 
commanding officer to protect the rights of his subordinates 
when, with the responsibilities of detached commanders thrown 
upon their shoulders, they continuously exercised their best 
judgment in the execution of their orders. 

And now a time was approaching when General Meade was 
to be subjected to the most trying ordeal of his whole mili- 
tary career. In the spring of the year following the great 
battle of Gettysburg, General Grant, having been invested 
with the command of all the armies of the United States, 
established his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac. 
None but a military man similarly situated can appreciate to 
its fullest extent the trying position of the commander of a 
great army, just victorious under his command, so placed as 
to have his every order and disposition made directly under 
the eye of a higher officer on the spot, no matter with how 
much consideration and delicacy that officer may act. 



38 

No one can know, and probably no one ever will know to 
its fullest extent, the trials and heartburnings incident to the 
memorable campaign of 1864. That campaign did not really 
terminate until Lee's army laid down its arms at Appomattox 
Court House in the following April, and then Meade was still 
commanding the Army of the Potomac. 

The maxim that one poor general is better than tzvo good 
ones in the field will not lose any of its force when the his- 
tory of the campaign of 1864 comes to be written. No man 
can serve two masters, nor can any army, without the two ex- 
ercising a degree of consideration and forbearance not com- 
patible with ordinary human nature during a state of war. 
Even with the greatest care and every disposition on the part 
of the superior for harmonious action, clashing of orders, with 
the worst results, are sure to occur. That Meade, quick-tem- 
pered and excitable as was his nature, retained the command 
of the army to the end, is as creditable to his patriotism and 
his devotion to the army as were the sound judgment and 
good sense of the commander of all our armies creditable to 
him in retaining him there. 

When General Grant took command. General Meade, with 
the instincts of the true soldier, frankly stated to him that he 
probably would desire to make his own selection for the com- 
mand of the Army of the Potomac, and he begged him to 
understand that he would cheerfully yield to his decision, 
whatever it might be. But General Grant made no change, 
and at the termination of hostilities complimented highly 
General Meade for the faithful manner in which he had per- 
formed the duties of his position. 

The long, tedious, trying, and sanguinary campaign of 1864 
followed, terminating with the siege of Petersburg, and the 
following spring the brave old Army of the Potomac had the 
satisfaction of seeing its four years' antagonist brought to bay 
at Appomattox Court House, where its arms were laid down 
forever. 



39 

From the creation of the Army of the Potomac to its dis- 
bandment in 1865 it had iive commanders; of these General 
Meade, the last one, commanded it for about one-half of the 
whole period. 

With one exception, General Meade possessed less than any 
of the commanders that magnetic attraction which does so 
much to bind together the commanding general and the rank 
and file of his army, an attraction which was so marked a 
characteristic in the careers of McClellan and Thomas, Lee 
and Stonewall Jackson, and the absence of which Grant so 
frankly deplores in his own person. But whilst this attrac- 
tion in Meade's case was lacking, there never was a time dur- 
ing his long and eventful career at the head of that army when 
it, as an army, from the highest officer to the lowest private in 
the ranks, with few exceptions, did not bestow upon him its 
fullest confidence, and place the most implicit reliance upon 
his ability to command and his intention to do under all cir- 
cumstances that which was best for their welfare and success 
and for the good of the whole imperiled country. 

We are assembled here to-day, nearly fifteen years after this 
distinguished soldier crossed the Great River, to inaugurate 
in his honor this fitting memorial to his bravery and distin- 
guished services as a soldier, his high-toned honorable charac- 
ter as a man, and his virtues and integrity as a citizen of this 
great Republic, desirous of testifying by our words and actions 
the high esteem in which we hold him, and to hand down to 
the latest generations that in the great fight to maintain this 
free Government, to perpetuate our liberties and our glorious 
example of freedom to the world, of all the heroes who found 
death upon a thousand battle-fields, of all the leaders who 
guided these heroes to final victory, this country produced no 
one more courageous, more conscientious, or more faithful in 
every trust committed to his charge, than 

GEORGE GORDON MEADE. 



40 

A large number of invited guests witnessed the ceremonies, in- 
cluding all the members of General Meade's immediate family. 

RECEPTION AT THE UNION LEAGUE. 

At the Union League House in the evening, after the unveiling, 
a Reception was tendered by the Fairmonnt Park Art Association 
to the distinguished visitors who had attended the ceremonies, in- 
cluding a large number of officers of the Army, Navy, Marine 
Corps, and National Guard. A notable feature was the presence 
of several of General Meade's West Point classmates ; also gen- 
eral officers of the War of the Rebellion ; a number of his personal 
staff" and aids, and many who had served under him when he com- 
manded the "Army of the Potomac." 

The guests were received by Hon. James A. Beaver, Governor 
of Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Edwin H. Fitler, Mayor of Philadelphia. 

Mr. Joel J. Baily, Vice-President of the Fairraount Park Art 
Association. 

The gathering of more than six hundred guests from all sections 
of the country was a handsome and fitting termination of the day 
when Philadelphia paid especial tribute to the memory of General 
Meade. 



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